Cox top medal hope
THE days of Australia being considered a winter sports oddity have been consigned to history.
With 12 medals, five of them gold, since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, the land of beaches and barbecues has more than held its own.
And there’s every reason to believe the PyeongChang Games could be our best yet.
In a record- breaking 2016- 17 season, 13 Australian athletes in six different disciplines won 35 medals in World Cups and five at the freestyle skiing and snowboard world championships.
Two of Australia’s Sochi Olympics medallists — aerial skiers Lydia Lassila and David Morris — will be in PyeongChang. Britt Cox ( moguls), Scotty James ( snowboard halfpipe), Alex Pullin ( snowboard cross) and Danielle Scott ( aerial skiing) lead a group also aspiring to win gold.
Yet the head of Australia’s Winter Olympic Institute, Geoff Lipshut, has urged caution when it comes to tipping a Games- best haul of four or more medals.
“Every country lifts their game in year four,” Lipshut said of the Olympic cycle. “It just gets tougher. I think the expectation is medals ... somewhere in that one to three mark is about right.”
Mount Beauty local Cox’s hopes shine brightest after seven World Cup wins and a world championship victory in 2016- 17.
Teammate Matt Graham looks to be challenging for a minor medal given the dominance of six- time World Cup champion Canadian Mikael Kingsbury.
In terms of depth it is hard to go past the snowboard cross squad, with Pullin winning two events to start this season and Jarryd Hughes another.
In the aerials, world championship silver medallist Scott is best placed for Games glory, but veteran Lassila cannot be ruled out for a podium finish.
But threatening to usurp them all is James.
With snowboard halfpipe vying to be the blue riband event of the Games, the Vic- torian can go to the next level with a win over the sport’s $ 50 million man, Shaun White. Victories over the American at last year’s X Games and in the test event in PyeongChang suggest it is possible.
Snowboard compatriot Torah Bright failed to qualify, but with Tess Coady, 17 and already a World Cup medallist in slopestyle, and improving halfpipe rider Emily Arthur, 18, the sport’s future looks in good shape in Australia.